Continuing to rely on gut instinct and that market research you did 5 years ago is the same as pretending those jeans you wore when you were 18 still fit…unfortunately the world and your waistline has changed.
If you’re a marketer and you haven’t done any market research recently then now might be a good time to start. There are lots of cost-effective ways to undertake research to gain insight and check that your assumptions are still relevant in this recession-tinged world.
Here are 3 ideas.
1. Ask your existing customers 2 or 3 survey questions via a pop-up on your website or email.
2. Analyse your existing customer data with a view to spotting behavioural changes and emerging trends – are there any worth investigating further?
3. Look at your competitors – what are they doing differently? Are new competitors emerging?
Just taking these 3 steps may generate valuable insight or highlight the need for more analysis which, depending upon your in-house expertise, may need to be undertaken by a market researcher. If so, work out what you can do in-house and contract out the rest to an expert.
Many budgets have been cut and are under pressure but the results you get from a well-run research project can pay for themselves many times over, and may help you be better prepared for whatever is on its way…
